, begged his hostess' permission to
depart. Circe consented, warning him to beware of the Sirens, of the
threatening rocks, of the monster Scylla and the whirlpool Charybdis
on either side of the Messenian Strait, and of the cattle of
Trinacria, giving him minute directions how to escape unharmed from
all these perils.

Morning having come, Ulysses took leave of Circe, and, on nearing the
reef of the Sirens, directed his men to bind him fast to the mast,
paying no heed to his gestures, after he had stopped their ears with
soft wax. In this way he heard, without perishing, the Sirens'
wonderful song, and it was only when it had died away in the distance
and the spell ceased that his men unbound him from the mast.

"Thus the sweet charmers warbled o'er the main;
My soul takes wing to meet the heavenly strain;
I give the sign, and struggle to be free:
Swift row my mates, and shoot along the sea;
New chains they add, and rapid urge the way,
Till, dying off, the distant sounds decay:
Then scudding swiftly from the dangerous ground,
The deafen'd ears unlock'd, the chains unbound."

Not daring describe to his companions the threatened horrors of
Charybdis and Scylla, Ulysses bade his steersman avoid the whirlpool,
and, fully armed, prepared to brave the monster Scylla. But,
notwithstanding his preparations, she snatched from his galley six men
who were seen no more! Although reluctant to land on Trinacria for
fear his sailors would steal the cattle of the Sun, Ulysses was
constrained to do so to allow them to rest. While they were there,
unfavorable winds began to blow, and continued so long that the Greeks
consumed all their provisions, and, in spite of their efforts to
supply their larder by hunting and fishing, began to suffer from
hunger. During one of Ulysses' brief absences the men, breaking their
promises, slew some of the beeves of the Sun, which although slain
moved and lowed as if still alive! Undeterred by such miracles, the
men feasted, but, on embarking six days later, they were overtaken by
a tempest in which all perished save Ulysses. Clinging to the mast of
his wrecked ship, he drifted between Charybdis and Scylla, escaping
from the whirlpool only by clinging to the branches at an overhanging
fig-tree. Then, tossed by the waves for nine days longer, Ulysses was
finally cast on the isle of Ogygia, whence he had come directly to
Phaeacia as already described.

_Book XIII._ Having finished t